Awkward

In June, Mama’s son, Fetra got married. It was much like the wedding in my other blog, but this time, I made the cake. That’s right. I am an official wedding cake maker. And people actually liked it!

The reception was at ILOFAV again (the compound where I live) and there was a live band! After a while, it turned into led to open mic. Throughout the previous week, people had asked me if I was going to sing at the reception and my answer was always “of course!” They especially wanted me to sing a song called “Jeso Sakaizanay” which I have stuck in my head most days and will start belting at any given moment around ILOFAV. I was more than willing to sing it – it’s a really catchy song.  But when the time came, I was just fine listening to the other people sing their hearts out.

The awkwardness started when I was rushing between being a guest and eating with my date, fellow volunteer Lee Kirberg (my go-to wedding date Tana Buddy), and serving the food. I also was supposed to be taking care of a boy while his aunt helped out in the kitchen preparing food. A tri-fecta of craziness.

Between the rice and dessert portion of the meal, I decided to take a little breather from the wedding so Lee and I left to go visit Flaviette and her baby. I told Flaviette that she needed to get out and get some fresh air. We step outside which is a good 15 degrees warmer than her concrete room in the basement. There I am holding Wennancia and I hear my name being called through the speakers. It was pastora (mama’s husband) - He was calling Lee and me to sing a song!

By the time I got over there, I realized I was still holding the baby! I started by explaining in my best Malagasy that this baby wasn’t mine, but she was Flaviette’s. Meanwhile, pastora is trying to laugh off the awkwardness of this situation. I tried to be funny to decrease the number of confused looks I was receiving, but my Malagasy wasn’t quick enough. So there I was, in my bare feet, with a baby in my arms, totally lost for words. I had so many funny things to say in English but I’m sure only about 10% of the people there knew English… not helpful.

To add to the awkwardness, I hadn’t prepared anything to sing! So I just do what I usually do around here – start singing the Malagasy hymn “Jeso sakaizanay!” But that’s about the only text I know… the rest was full of blah blah blahs and la la las! Thankfully, I wasn’t alone. Lee also knew the tune but not all the words. Fortunately, I found a friend in the crowd who was exaggerating the words so I could try to read her lips. Lee tried his best to chime in, but I must say – it was a complete flop!

A week later when I was telling a friend this story in English and when I told him about “Jeso Sakaizanay” he burst into laughter! “Why is that funny?” I asked. He replied with “that’s a song they play at funerals!”… oops!

We didn’t want to leave the crowd hangin on that awkward note, so we asked the accompanist if he knew “What a wonderful world” (which is the song Lee and I sang at our last wedding together). He tried to fake it, but it didn’t work. Then the guy who plays piano at church got up from his seat, and offers to play. Aaaahh much better. But oh wait, Lee doesn’t know all the words. Here we go again… This time I am the one trying to exaggerate the words.

 

From what I remember only about 2 people clapped.  And one of them was Pastora, who was probably like “thank the good Lord that THAT’S over!”

Whoops.

Other than that, the wedding was great!